Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 435 Gwen, who exactly are you?

Hughes had heard about this. There were no superhumans in the secret order; those who were secretly guarding him were all ordinary people. The old woman easily found out who he was and released him after clarifying the situation.

After all, they hadn't done anything wrong or broken the law, so Hughes just gave them a few words of advice.

Hughes was actually having a bit of a headache with this team.

A loyal team can play a significant role behind the scenes, especially in a chaotic place like Bloodharbor. Hughes doesn't mind hiring people to do the dirty work.

But the bond that holds this team together is a personality cult, or even a religious cult that worships him as a god, which is a big problem.

Fanatical and irrational faith can easily backfire; the more loyal one is now, the more thorough one's rebellion will be in the future.

Therefore, Hughes was always trying to diminish his divinity. He often went out in public and chatted with all sorts of people, making them realize that they were just ordinary people and guiding their worship and faith toward knowledge.

Of course, this needs to be done in moderation. Excessive fanaticism in technology would lead to the same old path of chasing after a fire, which is why he wanted to suppress the equivalent worship of the Christian Guard.

Therefore, Hughes did not ultimately accept the cult's faith. Instead, he spent a lot of effort explaining things to at least make the cult no longer openly believe in him.

That's enough. He has no intention of engaging in any thought control. What others think is their own business. Hughes just needs to put the brakes on some trends of thought.

They soon arrived at the Secret Order's gathering place, which used to be their hideout in the slums of the lower city. Now, all those simple shacks had been demolished and replaced with a magnificent church.

Yes, the Secret Order also started building churches. They used the version of the holy text that Josh had used before, but of course, many parts about Hughes were removed and many other things were added.

In a way, Josh and Hughes were of the same mind. Both the Secret Order and the Holy Scriptures of Imperial Truth incorporated a great deal of basic knowledge and general education, reducing the weight of the religious aspects.

It's just that the religious part of Imperial Truth is even less—so little that apart from the name of the Church, there's almost nothing that a religion should have, and its status in Castel is closer to that of an academic organization.

Hughes had a very open-minded view. Since the local people's beliefs were difficult to change in a short time, he might as well join them and build a more civilized religion for them to believe in.

Moreover, the Secret Order is now under Castel's direct control, and Hughes' influence over Bloodharbor is now even stronger than that of the Prince. At least in the Lower City, the Prince's administrative orders are not as effective as the Secret Order's announcements.

"Lord Hughes."

The believers nodded to greet Hughes, who had been there many times and most of them had seen him before.

The secret society was very quiet at this moment. The believers were taking their monthly exam, and several priests were standing in the room supervising the exam. A group of believers were scratching their heads and holding pens below.

The secret society's structure was created by Josh, and Hughes didn't get involved. But Josh and the other high-ranking members with him were all from working-class backgrounds, so they wouldn't know anything about running a church.

But they had taken an advanced course, so they brought over that learning and assessment process.

Today, members of the Secret Order have monthly exams and annual exams. To become a priest, there are strict requirements for the knowledge one possesses, and an exam is required for every entry.

This has resulted in the Secret Order having many casual believers, but very few formal believers.

To become a formal believer, one must at least complete a literacy course, otherwise they won't even pass the most basic test—which is directly linked to the distribution of holy water.

The holy water of the esoteric order has also become an old tradition, with priests personally boiling the holy water and distributing it to each believer.

Hughes had witnessed the distribution; the believers were holding hot porridge in their hands and weren't particularly solemn, yet the scene truly possessed a certain sacredness.

Perhaps this is the meaning of the church's existence. "My lord, you have arrived."

The Secret Order members did not call Hughes "Lord," but Josh would. Hughes looked up and saw Josh coming over carrying a large stack of papers.

"I've come to check on your progress. How's your team doing?"

If the Secret Order wants to establish itself in Bloodport, it naturally needs a certain level of military strength. The Guardians of the Order are a legitimate army, and they have no problem fighting external battles, but they are not quite suitable for handling security issues.

Their firepower is a bit excessive. If they were to clean up a cultist in Bloodharbor, they might cause more friendly fire than the cultist himself.

The prince’s port guards could certainly assist, but Hughes still needed some troops to protect the factory. He couldn’t very well have the Papal Guards come and set up heavy machine guns, could he?

This is where the secret society comes into play.

They live in Blood Harbor, are familiar with the situation here, and are just right for dealing with the security.

So Hughes brought over a batch of weapons and armed them.

The weapons given to the Secret Order were specially made short-barreled shotguns, which didn't require much technology. Richard found a few researchers from the Firemoths to make them on the side.

Low technical complexity does not mean it is unusable. This weapon is quite lethal at close range. Incidentally, this close range is only relative to rifled rifles. In fact, its effective range is close to that of the Empire's muskets, about 80 meters.

The projectiles fired were lead bullets, designed by Hughes based on the size of buckshot, which were sufficient to cause enough damage and stop people, and were more than enough to maintain order in Blood Harbor.

"This group of armed believers is still being recruited and trained. By the way, my lord, please give them a name."

Hughes was stumped; he wasn't very good at naming things.
"This is an internal matter of the Secret Order; you decide. Hmm, what is this?"

"This is Gwen. As you can see, she is also a refugee from the North. Her family is gone, and she is now in the Secret Order. Come, Gwen, greet the Lord—"

Hughes looked down and met the gaze of a little girl with white hair.

She was short, looked to be around ten years old, had a rosy complexion, and looked at Hughes with curious eyes.

"Hello, boss."

“How can you call her ‘boss’? You should call her Lord Hughes or Earl!” Josh tapped her on the head with the test paper, then turned to Hughes: “Don’t let her young age fool you, Gwen’s grades are excellent. She’s already taken several advanced courses!”

He proudly raised his head.

Hughes crouched down to meet Gwen's gaze, and his reflection appeared in her pure white pupils.

"Hello, Miss Gwen."

Hughes extended his hand, and Gwen hesitated for a moment before extending her hand to shake his.

Their hands clasped together, then separated after a moment. Hughes stood up, using all his strength to control his expression, but his heart was filled with turbulent emotions.

(End of this chapter)